Right here is the Scenario. Now let us introduce our imaginary Joe. He is a lead guitar player in a remake / covers music group, preferring a variety of guitars including a greatly used Gibson Melody Maker. He is a first-rate guitar player and cool under pressure. He plays for a music group we will label the Power Found. They are good and certainly shop Gibson and Ibanez electric guitars. They are a 5 piece music group with 2 guitarists, keys, bass and percussion. The other guitarist furthermore doubles as the vocalist. Nevertheless this really is nightmare of Joe himself. As the guitar player, this situation should certainly produce uncontrollable shaking of most areas of the body and also have you soiling your underwear. This situation is considered the gig from hell.
Thinking that he starts at 10:00, Joe shows up at the venue with two hours to spare. Well, it would be two hours to spare, but Joe received the wrong selective information. The Power Found is due to get started at 8:30 and Joe has not even unpacked his equipment yet, much less setup. They had been endeavoring to contact Joe on his phone, but it had been switched off. Joe, retaining cool, unpacks his car very quickly and almost magic like manages to get everything setup just 10 minutes overdue. The herd is getting unsated, looking like they all want to turn down the volume of their widex hearing aids. The bar manager is flabergasted. Joe is keeping his cool.
Simply no sooner than polishing off his very last tune up, the Power Found commence. After an additional minute of working out exactly what song to play, the Power Found commences their initial song. It sounds awful, with the guitar of Joe far too quiet and bass guitar far too loud. The music group performs the song half heartedly while they modify levels and attempt to get things right. The audience is curious about what the heck is happening, and the bar manager is wanting to know who the hell he leased and the key reason why. Joe is actually starting to lose his cool.
After milling about deciding what to play next, the band commences another song as suggested by the drummer. This one does seem improved until the 1st refrain. Half way through the 1st chorus.. TWANNNGGG… Joe breaks a string. Joe makes do for the time being through to the solo, when he realizes that the guitar solo is going to be considerably very difficult with just five guitar strings. Joe fumbles his way through until the conclusion of the song. Joe is very ashamed.
The band stands around for a few minutes while Joe changes the busted string. When that is completed they start into the next song. This one goes OK, plus the crowd seems to be getting into it a bit more. The bar manager is starting to chill, and Joe is starting to enjoy himself, restoring some cool.
In reality, everyone is enjoying themselves. And their beers. A tad too much. The Found are starting to get a little sloppy and starting to overlook cues. Specially the vocalist. He is starting to forget when he is supposed to be coming in, and slurring words. Even though the guys in the group find it entertaining, the audience is not. Joe is starting to get tipsy.
The next song the guitar of Joe starts producing funny sounds, as well as the sound starts cutting out. Was it the acoustic guitar amplifier or one of several Crate amps? At some point the guitar of Joe fades away. He arbitrarily stomps on a few pedals and understands that there is absolutely no power. He was convinced those 9 volt batteries were still good. Joe unplugs his electric guitar lead from the pedal board and connects it directly into his amp. Joe is getting furious, the same as the crowd and the bar manager.
Two songs from the close, the stage goes dark. Every one of the amplifiers turn off and all that can be heard is the drummer beating away. After a moment every one of the Found are standing around, looking brainless wondering what is happening. About 30 seconds afterwards, the power comes back. The band chats rapidly and makes a decision to start the song again. This time they make it through all of it. They play their last song for the handful of remaining patrons, pack up, get their check and leave the pub, never to return.
Is this as bad as it could get for Joe and his music group, the Power Found? I doubt it. Nevertheless they would have made it through most of these situations by being well prepared. It may look insurmountable, but I have played a gig where more or less this all occurred in one night, and we made it. It is all prep. What follows happen to be the steps you need to follow in order to avoid something this unpleasant:
Know What Song Comes Next. Unless you are some freeform jam rock improv jazz type thing, you need to know what you are going to play. Every member of the band should know what song is coming next so they can prepare for it without having to debate first what song to play in the first place. Have a set list in sight for every member of the band. Know in advance what songs may require guitar changes or change of tuning so that you don t kick off the tune until everyone is ready. Moments like that are advantageously filled with some banter, commonly between the singer and the audience.
Stay Sober, Clean and Straight. It does not make a difference what you believe, you do not sound better while you are smashed. Sure, possibly to your ears, although not to mine or the ears of someone else. Not long ago, I remember playing a huge New Years Eve show in which there were 2 groups. There was us actively playing on the inside, and the main music group playing on the outside stage. The other music group I had seen often times before and they were superb. The truth is they were essentially the most well-liked groups to play this specific venue. In between sets, they were heading up to their suites, getting stoned and inebriated, then returning down to play their set in a semi comatose state. We had been inside, taking pleasure in a couple of drinks in between sets and keeping it together. Our sets overlapped moderately and by the end of the evening, anytime both groups were actively playing, inside was crammed and outside the alternative music group was ignored. The following year, we were asked to play New Years once more as the only band. In fact after that New Years gig we were booked regularly to play both evenings of the weekend each month (think about that for a second, we had been reserved for 25% of the venues available shows). It could be fun to get tanked and play, but it will nott get you anywhere.
We Don’t Need No Filty Electricity. There is not a lot you can do about this but ride it out. Although it s not as bad as it sounds. When a venue looses power, you can be sure it will be up in less than minute unless something MAJOR has gone wrong, in which case the venue will normally shut if it is a building wide blackout. So for the next 60 seconds, what do you do? It s easy. Nobody stops. The entire band keeps playing. The singer goes to the front of the stage and starts yelling the lyrics at the crowd. I am yet to see this not work. The crowd will start singing back. When the power kicks back in the band hasn t missed a beat and the crowd will go crazy. It is slick and professional and will fire up the crowd for the rest of the night.
If it goes over the 60 seconds just finish the song and wait. Not much more you can do, but at least you tried.
Always Stay in Contact. There is no justification to be late to some gig. With sophisticated communications technologies, everyone has the potential to be contactable all the time. Even if Joe got the time completely wrong, a elementary phone call would have solved all the difficulties. However, it is always a fantastic concept for any music group to meet at a central position at some time prior to a show, and travel with each other convoy style when possible. This can be a sure fire way to make sure absolutely everyone arrives punctually, does not get lost, or could possibly get help if something really does go wrong.
The spill over effect of this is that when you arrive on time, you can take your time and set up properly, sound check, as well as check your equipment for problems and in general, relax before the show starts.
Aways Keep a Spare. It s not always possible, but you should aim to have a stand-in guitar ready to go at all times. This is especially true for a band with two guitarists like the Nymphos. With the second guitarist still playing, and your backup guitar primed for playing, it is more than feasible to switch guitars mid song. It takes about 10 seconds and looks very professional. Even if you are the only guitarist, depending on the song you can sometimes get away with it as well. However sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and get through it. Once the song is over you can grab you backup guitar and play the rest of the set without keeping everyone hanging around while you change a string. Change it between sets or if you only have one set then don t bother.
If you can t keep a spare guitar handy and need to change strings, have some backup material. This applies to all band members. You should have a song that can be played when any member of the band is incapacitated. Then any running repairs can be made while the rest of the band covers.
Never Trust a Battery. To this day I still cannot believe people run their effects off batteries. It is just a disaster waiting to happen. Sure, I have batteries in my pedals that I swap out every few months. But they are the BACKUP for when some drunken idiot in the crowd falls onto the stage and pulls out a power lead or something comparable. Or perhaps you accidentally leave a cable plugged in between sets and the battery drains on you. If you do need to run off battery, work out how long they last and change the battery in half that time. This should help avoid unwanted failures at critical times, and make sure you have extra batteries.
Be Geared Up. If you are prepared and employ sound judgment, you can cope with any catastrophe. I personally have had each one of these issues, besides the drunken stupidity, occur in a single evening, and we made it through an escape strategy and staying with it. Grab your Gibson Flying V Guitar by the throat and get to it. It s not that difficult to come up with your personal unexpected emergency escape course, and I hope these examples can inspire you to be even more gig ready.